Netflix breaks silence on Harry, Meghan deal

Netflix has released a statement about its future with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle amid swirling speculation that their reported $150 million deal was in jeopardy.

A spokesman for the streaming giant confirmed to People that they are currently developing several projects with the pair’s content creation company, Archewell Productions.

“We value our partnership with Archewell Productions,” the spokesman told the publication. “‘Harry & Meghan’ was Netflix’s biggest documentary debut ever, and we’ll continue to work together on a number of projects, including the upcoming documentary series ‘Heart of Invictus.’”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a five-year deal with Netflix to plenty of fanfare in 2020, just months after quitting royal duties and relocating to the US.

During that period, they also announced a partnership with Spotify, reported to be worth around $29 million, which was sensationally terminated earlier this month following the release of just one 12-episode podcast series, Archetypes, and a one-off holiday special.

In the days that followed, reports surfaced that Spotify staff had branded the couple as “lazy”, with one of the audio giant’s executives publicly calling them “f**king grifters”.
 

The latest development in the Sussex’s business deals follows reports earlier this week that Harry and Meghan were instructed to deliver more must-watch shows for Netflix in order to receive the remainder of their eye-watering contract.

While Netflix is said to have been happy with the viewing figures for their explosive six-part docu-series, Harry & Meghan, according to The Sun, the couple have now been told they’ll need to produce more compelling shows to collect the second $75 million pay cheque.

The only other content already produced by their company, Archewell, was the docu-series Live To Lead about global leaders and activists, and Harry’s Invictus Games documentary, Heart of Invictus, which will be released later this year.
 

Meghan’s animated series about women in history, Pearl, was axed in 2022 before it could even get off the ground, while a new report in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend detailed several other pitches that were rejected.

The publication claims that they had suggested an Emily In Paris-style series but with a male as the lead, and a show about LGBTQ characters similar to those in Heartstopper.

The WSJ outlined one the series the couple does have in production, a show based off Great Expectations called Bad Manners.

It’s understood to be a prequel to the Charles Dickens classic and retells the story of a lonely Miss Haversham living in a patriarchal society.

Earlier this month, a source told The Sun that there is a “less friendly attitude” toward the Sussex deal “from some at the top” at the streaming service.

“The feeling is that the lemon has been fully squeezed. The big bucks Harry and Meghan signed in for do not exist today,” the insider said.